Eagles softball finds two freshman aces

Madeline Brink and Kelsey Jankowski never expected to become the starting rotation for the University of Southern Indiana softball team.

They’re freshmen. That doesn’t happen.

But it did.

“It kind of shocked me,” said Brink.

She became the No. 1 starter almost immediately after an all-state career at Castle High School. Jankowski, from Cedar Lake, Ind., took a bit longer to get into the rotation, becoming the other starter after sophomore Stephanie Bittner suffered a wrist injury.

“I looked at KJ and said, ‘You’re role just changed,’ ” said USI coach Sue Kunkle. “But she’s a gamer, and so is Madeline.”

Together, they have helped lead the Screaming Eagles (19-15, 8-8 Great Lakes Valley Conference) on a six-game winning streak as they head into doubleheaders at Illinois-Springfield on Saturday and at Lewis on Sunday.

Over those last six games, each has gone 3-0. Individually, Brink has compiled a 0.70 earned-run average over 20 innings, limiting opposing batters to a .215 average, while Jankowski has posted a 1.17 ERA while walking only three in 18 innings.

Overall, Brink is 9-7 with a 3.19 ERA in 1051/3 innings while Jankowski is 7-2 with a 2.40 ERA over 492/3 innings.

For Brink, becoming the lead starter may not be as much of a surprise. At Castle, she set single-season school records in strikeouts and strikeouts per game and once posted a 0.16 ERA for an entire season. Still, she’s had to adjust to college batters.

“My pitches have had to get tighter,” she said. “In high school you can get by with a (screwball) that’s a little loopy. But here you have to throw it more in (on the batter) or it’ll get hit.”

Jankowski at first suffered from extreme nervousness. Then she had to adjust to reality.

“You can’t throw anything over the meat of the plate or you’ll get hit — real bad,” she said.

On the other hand, they discovered that certain pitches worked better in college than in high school.

For example, said Jankowski, everybody can hit a fastball in college. “But if you have a good screwball or a good curve, that can work,” she said.

“You have to get all your pitches at the (proper) speed,” said Brink. “If your screwball is like 10 miles an hour slower (than normal), (batters) will pick that up.

“You can’t slow anything down, except your change-up. You want all your hard pitches to be the same speed.”

One pitch in particular has worked better for Brink in college.

“My drop curve,” she said. “I almost never threw it in high school. Nobody would swing at it.”

Jankowski agreed.

“Mostly, they went after the high stuff,” she said. “In college, when they see a pitch coming into the (strike) zone, they go after it.”

Kunkle isn’t surprised at their success.

“They just follow the lead,” she said. “They are surprisingly knowledgeable for freshmen.”

Brink said her confidence has improved a lot over the last six games; she’s also making her pitches work better. Jankowski thinks she’s improved at throwing strikes on the first pitch.

As for the future, Jankowski wants to get her hips and the rest of her body more involved in her pitches. “Right now, coach says I’m all arms,” she said.

Brink wants to speed up the spin on her pitches. “I hope I haven’t plateaued already,” she said.

Kunkle didn’t sound worried.

“They just need to train, to condition,” she said, “so, come next February, they’ll be strong.”